Dec. 19, 1974 review: Genesis does "Lamb Lies Down on Broadway" at the Century Theater

 


“Lamb Lies Down on Broadway” lays an egg on Main Street. 

Dec. 19, 1974 

Gabriel’s Good Idea Lost in the Performance 

          “The concerts should work more like a film,” Peter Gabriel, lead singer for the theatrical-minded British rock group Genesis, is quoted in the latest Rolling Stone.

          Very much like a film was the Genesis concert Wednesday night in the sold-out Century Theater, what with that three-part screen flashing images on high while Gabriel prowled the stage as Rael, hero of the group’s new double concept album, “The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway.”

          You could call it a rock opera, too, this journey from the streets of New York City to some surrealistic hell and back by way of the Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging.

          Like grand opera, it helped to have an idea of the libretto. But unless you possessed intimate knowledge of the new album, which lays out Rael’s entire trip in the liner notes, then Gabriel might as well have been singing in Italian.

* * *

“LAMB” PROBABLY would make a weirdly fascinating movie. As a rock stage piece, however, it was emotionless and musically mechanical, as if it had gotten permanently lodged in Lifeless Packaging.

          Passing comparisons with the Moody Blues or Yes just wouldn’t hold up. And Gabriel’s lyrics, no matter how he declaimed them, came out pretty much incomprehensible. Chalk that one up to the sound system.

          So those unfamiliar with “Lamb” were left with the slide show, the stagey flashes and smoke and only a couple costume changes for Gabriel, who in the past was putting chameleons to shame.

* * *

GABRIEL SLIPPED from his black jeans and leather jacket once to be enclosed in a spinning dragon tube which looked like a holiday float and again as a temporary monster in a balloon outfit that made him resemble a squid with tumors.

          These and his age-old number from the ages of man show (done as an encore) were the high points of the two-hour-plus set, along with Gabriel’s strutting presence.

          Nevertheless, muddied concepts do not make great concerts and slide shows are a weak substitute for a real film. Gabriel may have had a good idea, but it got lost in the translation.

* * * * *

IN THE PHOTO: Peter Gabriel in the Slipperman costume

* * * * *

FOOTNOTE: A time of extreme stress for Genesis. Peter Gabriel was leaving at the end of the tour in mid 1975, the band was deep in debt, the album’s arrival in mid-November had been greeted with mixed reviews and the staging was troublesome. Some say this helped inspire “This Is Spinal Tap.”

Genesis did the “Lamb” album in its entirety, with a couple old favorites for the encore. Here’s how it played, courtesy of setlist.fm: 

The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway

Fly on a Windshield

Broadway Melody of 1974

Cuckoo Cocoon

In the Cage

The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging

Back in N.Y.C.

Hairless Heart

Counting Out Time

The Carpet Crawlers

The Chamber of 32 Doors

Lilywhite Lilith

The Waiting Room

Anyway

Here Comes the Supernatural Anaesthetist

The Lamia

Silent Sorry in Empty Boats

The Colony of Slippermen

Ravine

The Light Dies Down on Broadway

Riding the Scree

In the Rapids

It

(encore)

Watcher of the Skies

The Musical Box

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